"We are covered in an ecological wonderland," declares Rob Dunn, a man with a strange idea of a wonderland. In the wild bacterial jungle that is our skin, Dunn has been studying an especially dark cave: the belly button. He's found out which microorganisms are the big game, which are the rare birds, and which ones may take up residence in your navel if you stop bathing.
Dunn is a biologist at North Carolina State University who studies the tiny life forms that share our personal space, […]